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Harassment covers a wide range ofbehaviors of anoffensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans,humiliates, andintimidates a person. In the legal sense, these are behaviors that are disturbing, upsetting, or threatening to a person. Some harassment evolves fromdiscriminatory grounds, and has the effect of nullifying a person's rights or impairing a person from utilising their rights.[1][2][3]
When harassing behaviors become repetitive, it is defined asbullying. The continuity or repetitiveness and the aspect of distressing, alarming or threatening may distinguish it frominsult. It also constitutes a tactic ofcoercive control,[4] which may be deployed by anabuser. Harassment is a specific form ofdiscrimination,[5][6] and occurs when a person is the victim of unwanted intimidating, offensive, or humiliating behavior.
In some jurisdictions, to qualify as harassment, there must be a connection between the harassing behavior and a person's protected personal characteristics or prohibited grounds of discrimination, but this is not always the case. Although harassment typically involves behavior that persists, serious and malicious one-off incidents are also considered harassment in some cases.
Attested in English from 1753,[7]harassment derives from the English verbharass plus the suffix-ment. The verbharass, in turn, is aloan word from the French, which was already attested in 1572 meaningtorment, annoyance, bother, trouble[8] and later as of 1609 was also referred tothe condition of being exhausted, overtired.[9][10] Of the French verbharasser itself there are the first records in a Latin to French translation of 1527 ofThucydides'History of the war that was between thePeloponnesians and theAthenians both in the countries of the Greeks and the Romans and the neighboring places wherein the translator writesharasser allegedly meaningharceler (to exhaust the enemy by repeated raids); and in the military chant Chanson dufranc archer[11] of 1562, where the term is referred to a gauntjument (de poil fauveau, tant maigre et harassée: of fawn horsehair, so meagre and ...) where it is supposed that the verb is used meaningovertired.[12]
A hypothesis about the origin of the verbharasser isharace/harache, which was used in the 14th century in expressions likecourre à la harache (to pursue) andprendre aucun par la harache (to take somebody under constraint).[13] TheFranzösisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, a German etymological dictionary of the French language (1922–2002) compares phonetically and syntactically bothharace andharache to the interjectionhare andharo by alleging a pejorative and augmentative form. The latter was an exclamation indicating distress and emergency (recorded since 1180) but is also reported later in 1529 in the expressioncrier haro sur (to arise indignation over somebody).hare's use is already reported in 1204 as an order to finish public activities as fairs or markets and later (1377) still as command but referred to dogs. This dictionary suggests a relation ofharo/hare with theold lower Franconian*hara (here) (as by bringing a dog to heel).[14]
While the pejorative of an exclamation and in particular of such an exclamation is theoretically possible for the first word (harace) and maybe phonetically plausible forharache, a semantic, syntactic and phonetic similarity of the verbharasser as used in the first popular attestation (the chant mentioned above) with the wordharas should be kept in mind: Already in 1160haras indicated a group of horses constrained together for the purpose of reproduction and in 1280 it also indicated the enclosure facility itself, where those horses are constrained.[15] The origin itself ofharass is thought to be the old Scandinavianhârr with the Romanic suffix –as, which meantgrey or dimmish horsehair. Controversial is the etymological relation to the Arabic word forhorse whose romantransliteration isfaras.
Although the French origin of the word 'harassment' is beyond all question in theOxford English Dictionary and those dictionaries basing on it, a supposed Old French verbharer should be the origin of the French verbharasser, despite the fact that this verb cannot be found in French etymologic dictionaries like that of theCentre national de resources textuelles et lexicales or theTrésor de la langue française informatisé (see also their corresponding websites as indicated in the interlinks); since the entry further alleges a derivation fromhare, like in the mentioned German etymological dictionary of the French language a possible misprint ofharer =har/ass/er =harasser is plausible or cannot be excluded. In those dictionaries the relationship withharassment were an interpretation of the interjectionhare asto urge a dog to attack, despite the fact that it should indicate a shout to come and not to go (hare =hara =here; cf. above).[16][17][18] TheAmerican Heritage Dictionary prudently indicates this origin only as possible.
Online harassment may direct multiple repeating obscenities, unwanted behaviour or unpleasant comments at specific people. It can include sharing information about a person they did not want shared, posting unpleasant comments, pictures or videos; and onlineimpersonation.[19]
Some online harassment may focus on the victims characteristics such as age, sex, race, religion, gender, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation. This is discrimination.
Trolling has been defined as a collective form of harassment perceived as having malicious intent to provoke another user.[20] In recent years, many politicians have experienced trolling and it has been identified as having a significant impact on political discourse.[21][22]
Online harassment can occur on social media, in chat rooms, within gaming environments or by sending unpleasant and unwanted emails to people who do not want to receive these communications and are offended by them.[23]
Online harassment may involve using photos of the victim and their families, altering photos in offensive ways, and then posting them on social media with the aim of causing emotional distress (seecyberbullying,cyberstalking,hate crime,online predator,Online Gender-Based Violence, andstalking).[24]
Herd mentality and cyberbullying are common on social media platforms. The "social media mob" that formed may evolve to "bullying anyone who didn't align with their beliefs or conclusions".[25]
Unfair treatment conducted by law officials, including but not limited toexcessive force,profiling,threats andcoercion, that may be related to characteristics such as disability, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender/sexual, age, or other forms ofdiscrimination. Such behaviour would violate dignity or create a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Police harassment is unlawful and may be a violation of a person's human rights.[26][27]
Power harassment is harassment or unwelcome attention of a political nature, often occurring in the environment of a workplace including hospitals, schools and universities. It includes a range of behavior from mild irritation and annoyances to seriousabuses which can even involve forced activity beyond the boundaries of the job description. Power harassment is considered a form of illegaldiscrimination and is a form of political andpsychological abuse, andbullying.
This is humiliating, intimidating or abusive behavior which is often difficult to detect, leaving no evidence other than victim reports or complaints. This characteristically lowers a person's self-esteem or causes one to have overwhelming torment.[28] This can take the form of verbal comments, engineered episodes of intimidation, aggressive actions or repeated gestures. Falling into this category is workplace harassment by individuals or groupsmobbing.[29]
Landlord harassment is the willing creation of conditions that are uncomfortable for one or moretenants in order to induce willing abandonment of arental contract. Such a strategy is often sought because it avoids costly legalexpenses and potential problems witheviction. This kind of activity is common in regions whererent control laws exist, but which do not allow the direct extension of rent-controlled prices from one tenancy to the subsequent tenancy, thus allowing landlords to set higher prices.
Landlord harassment carries specific legal penalties in somejurisdictions, but enforcement can be difficult in some circumstances. However, when acrime is committed in the process and motives similar to those described above are subsequently proven in court, then those motives may be considered anaggravating factor in many jurisdictions, thus subjecting the offender(s) to a stiffersentence.
Examples of behaviour that is landlord harassment and is a criminal offence in some jurisdictions includes opening or withholding post, entering a persons home without permission, removing or interfering with belongings and violent and intimidating language or behaviour.[30] Landlords should also be aware that in some jurisdictions, the legal responsibilities they have in regards to harassment, extend to ensuring their tenants are not harassing other people.[31]
Disability harassment occurs when a person finds the behaviour towards them offensive, frightening, degrading, humiliating or distressing and the motivation for this is a person's disability. In many jurisdictions, it is unlawful. It is a type of discrimination.[32] Data in the UK and Europe suggests it is a common type of harassment, that also occurs in the workplace.[33][34]
Racial harassment involves a series of incidents that are targeted at a person, due to their race, colour, nationality or ethnicity. The harassment may include words, intimidation, causing offence and harm and actions that are specifically designed to make the person feel degraded. Examples of such behaviour includes derogatory name calling, verbal threats, insults, racist jokes and displaying racially offensive material.[35] This is discrimination and is unlawful in many jurisdictions.
Religious persecution is verbal, psychological or physical harassment against targets because they choose to practice a specific religion.[36]Religious abuse is abuse due to religious settings.[37] Religious harassment can includecoercion intoforced conversion.[38]
Sexual harassment is an offensive or humiliating behavior that is related to a person's sex. It can be a subtle or overt sexual nature of a person (sexual annoyance,[39][40] e.g. flirting, expression of sexuality, etc.) that results in wrong communication or miscommunication, implied sexual conditions of a job (sexual coercion, etc.). It includes unwanted and unwelcome words, facial expressions, sexual attention, deeds, actions, symbols, or behaviors of a sexual nature that make the target feel uncomfortable. This can involve visual or suggestive looks or comments, staring at a person's body, or the showing of inappropriate photos.[41] It can happen anywhere, but is most common in theworkplace,schools, and themilitary. Even if certain civility codes were relevant in the past, the changing cultural norms calls for policies to avoid intentional fallacies between sexes and among same sexes. Women are substantially more likely to be affected than men.[42][43]
Workplace harassment is the offensive, belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual worker or a group of workers.[44] Workplace harassment can be verbal, physical, sexual, racial, or bullying.[45]
Recently, matters ofworkplace harassment have gained interest among practitioners and researchers as it is becoming one of the most sensitive areas of effective workplace management. In some East Asian countries, it has attracted substantial attention from researchers and governments since the 1980s, because aggressive behaviors have become a significant source of work stress, as reported by employees.[46] Underoccupational health and safety laws around the world,[47] workplace harassment andworkplace bullying are identified as being core psychosocial hazards.[48]
Electronic harassment is the unproven belief of the use ofelectromagnetic waves to harass a victim. Psychologists have identified evidence ofauditory hallucinations,delusional disorders,[49] or othermental disorders in online communities supporting those who claim to be targeted.[50][51]
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Harassment, under the laws of the United States, is defined as any repeated or continuing uninvited contact that serves no useful purpose beyond creating alarm, annoyance, or emotional distress.[52] In 1964, the United States Congress passed Title VII of theCivil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination at work on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and sex. This later became the legal basis for early harassment law. The practice of developing workplace guidelines prohibiting harassment was pioneered in 1969, when the U.S. Department of Defense drafted a Human Goals Charter, establishing a policy of equal respect for both sexes. InMeritor Savings Bank v. Vinson,477 U.S.57 (1986): the U.S. Supreme Court recognized harassment suits against employers for promoting a sexuallyhostile work environment. In 2006, PresidentGeorge W. Bush signed a law which prohibited the transmission of annoying messages over theInternet (akaspamming) without disclosing the sender's true identity.[53] An important standard in U.S. federal harassment law is that to be unlawful, the offending behavior either must be "severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive," or that enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment; e.g. if the employee is fired or threatened with firing upon reporting the conduct.[54]
The LAD prohibits employers from discriminating in any job-related action, including recruitment, interviewing, hiring, promotions, discharge, compensation and the terms, conditions and privileges of employment on the basis of any of the law's specified protected categories. These protected categories are race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex (including pregnancy and sexual harassment), marital status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for military service, or mental or physical disability, includingHIV/AIDS and related illnesses. The LAD prohibits intentional discrimination based on any of these characteristics. Intentional discrimination may take the form of differential treatment or statements and conduct that reflect discriminatory animus or bias.
In 1984, theCanadian Human Rights Act prohibited sexual harassment in workplaces under federal jurisdiction.
In the UK, there are a number of laws protecting people from harassment, including theProtection from Harassment Act 1997 and theCriminal Justice and Police Act 2001. TheCrime and Disorder Act 1998 creates racially or religiously aggravated versions of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 offences, which have harsher penalties. Where a Protection from Harassment Act 1997 offence involves hostility based upon sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability then the sentence uplift provisions of theSentencing Act 2020 apply.[55] TheMalicious Communications Act 1988 makes it an offence to send communications that may cause anxiety and distress.[56] Harassment is unlawful under theEquality Act 2010.[57] TheProtection from Eviction Act 1977, deals with some types of landlord harassment.[58]
A number of laws are relevant to harassment that is motivated by discrimination, for example the Age Discrimination Act 2004, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and Sex Discrimination Act 1984.[59] Other laws deal with online harassment and cyberbullying.[60] The Fair Work Act bans sexual harassment in the workplace, amongst offering other work based protections.[61]
Ironically, many of those supporting MohBad, alleging that he was bullied by Naira Marley and his crew, are among the most prominent bullies on social media. It is essential to emphasize that it is perfectly acceptable to hold different opinions, support different political candidates, or have contrary viewpoints. Succumbing to the pressure of online fascists who have turned social media into a battleground for those with dissenting opinions is not the solution
1981 Declaration of the General Assembly Art. 1 (2), section Freedom from coercion
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